What Did You Have This Morning?

"So, what 'dge you have this morning?"  is the customary greeting on cold days, like today.

I am talking COLD.   Frigidly cold.  We read minus 38 degrees just after 7 am today on our thermometer.

Duluth, MN's official reading was -24 degrees, while International Falls, MN (and Babbitt, MN , where our Grandmas and Grandpa live) dipped as low as -46.   Brrr.  Now that's cold!

Dear hubby left for work as usual this morning at about 5:20am.  No problems, thankfully.  He started his car and let it run for several minutes before leaving today.  That's to warm the engine up to help prevent any problems, you know.

Anyway, we carried on, 'business as usual' around here.  Mimi went outside at -30 to feed the barn cat, dogs and the chickens.  She bundled up, of course, and made her way through the routine.  I believe her step was a bit quicker than normal today.  

The local public schools went on a '2-hour delay' this morning.  Smart.  It'd be rough to be out there at the coldest part of the day.  It had 'warmed' to -25 at 10:00 am, so it was still pretty darn cold, but I'm sure those kids were happy to get the morning off.

Our two dogs were brought inside overnight last night.  They were happy to stay in the entryway.  But not terribly eager to venture outside this morning!  The kids asked me if the dogs could stay in all day, but my reply was, "When it reaches 10 below, out they go."  Well, it is -7 now and they are both napping contentedly in the entryway...   so sometimes I am a pushover.

A light cloud cover made it's way over us within the past hour or so, which is supposed to bring a few snow flurries our way.  Sure makes me long for the sun now.  We've had gorgeous, blinding sunshine the last three days.  It's been lovely!  Heavenly, almost.  It is so delicious and incredibly bright in here when the sun shines, that we pulled the blinds, in winter.  In fact, it is so amazing, its my favorite place to be.  All warm and cozy, cheery and bright,  no matter how cold it gets outside!

I'm Ba--ack....

Did you miss me, by any chance?

I abandoned this little speck of the blogosphere before Christmas....  So many preparations during Advent, readying our home and ourselves for Christ's birth, I just couldn't find make time to blog.

 

 Our little Noelle left the hospital late in November, and is doing very well.  Big brother Harvey is totally fine with having her around.  They're planning to spend the upcoming weekend with us, along with their mommy and daddy.  Noelle was baptized on  Gaudete Sunday.  How appropriate.

Parents and Godparents promising this child to God!

We had a lovely Christmas Season, with a house full of family, and it was a very joyous holiday.   This little house was nearly bursting at the seams on Christmas Day, and everyone here said that they had a wonderful day.  That is all that truly matters to me, that everyone here enjoys being here.  We celebrated our Lord Jesus' birthday with love and joy. 

Extended families...  his,

and mine.

I wonder though, how is it that every time I get a really great set of plans/schedule worked out near any big holiday, they usually manage to get derailed one way or another?  I did get pretty much everything done that I really needed to get done,  so it all worked out in the end, but it wasn't without some tense moments and a bit of stress that Christmas arrived. 

Gah!  Here is a picture of my kitchen island at one point near Christmas.  Do you notice the diaper in the bowl that is normally full of apples?  Who put that there!?

Crash's addition to my decorated front porch

Our middle boy and his fiancee spent ten days from Christmas Eve through New Year's with us, and they brought their snowmobiles with them.  So much fun! The week went so quickly...

Upon settling back into the regular schedule, we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th.  We tried to go with what we had on hand, and the girls had great fun finding suitable foods to symbolize the Twelve Days of Christmas on the dinner table.  We decided on sliced pears, Dove chocolates, French fries, onion rings, hard boiled eggs, milk shakes (which we actually forgot to make!) chicken drumsticks, and a wonderful cake that all us gals worked on for dessert.  We had scattered star-shaped cut-out cookies and Brach's chocolate stars on the table, too, symbolizing the Christmas Star that led the Wisemen to Bethlehem.

All the Christmas decorations have been carefully put away, and we are back on track with our school work.  As much as I love the Christmas Season, I really have come to adore the return to 'normal' when we reach the weekend following the Epiphany.  Crash was pretty upset when we took the tree out.  He wanted it to stay inside for a while longer.

Now we're ready for the cold snap that is forecasted for the upcoming weekend.  I've got my menu planned, the shopping was already done last week, and the regular foods will be prepared as we enjoy the winter from the comfort of our home.  Stay warm, and may God bless us all this New Year.